Front Row Seats

Hands down, the biggest blessing of this past weekend was feeling like I had a front row seat to watch God at work in the lives of these new friends of mine.

There's something very different about speaking at a retreat vs. speaking at a dinner or church service. When I speak at a one-time event like a dinner, I come in, speak, exchange pleasantries with people, and go home. I know God takes the words and uses them however He wants to, and they are no more or less effective because of the amount of time I spend there. But to speak at a retreat is to live among the people for a couple of days. It offers the chance to sit and have conversations between sessions and {my favorite part} to watch the very beginnings of what God is doing in the lives in front of me.

By the time I spoke at the fourth session this weekend, I looked out and didn't just see faces. I saw stories. I could look at some of the faces and have a bit of an idea of the person they represented. I loved that.

We met in a conference hall that did not have air conditioning. So the first night, we sat sandwiched between the tiniest army of box and oscillating fans {and we fanned ourselves with the stapled weekend programs}.

We propped open doors and tried to get a good cross-breeze going, and I stood at the back of the room while the worship team set the tone for the sessions.

I stood at the back worshiping with the women and hanging onto the little wooden cross Ryan loaned to me for the weekend. {He received this cross when he spoke at his retreat earlier this year, and it's extremely meaningful to him, so to have it on loan was a huge deal for me and I cannot tell you how many times throughout the weekend I checked to make sure I did not lose it!}

I can't tell you how many weeks I spent preparing for these sessions. How much prayer went into the words I said and over the ladies listening. It's a massive responsibility to teach in any capacity, I believe. I wanted to make sure my words were true and filled with Him. And I prayed that for anything I said that was stupid or wrong, His Spirit would convict me and His grace would correct my missteps.

The ladies were so gracious. You can speak all the truth in the world, but if the hearers are not interested in truly listening and applying, it doesn't matter. And it seemed this group was ready to truly hear and apply. It was such a blessing to witness!

I can't tell you enough how passionate I was over the topic I presented this weekend, and I was just so thrilled to hear from the ladies how God was beginning to work in them, call them to greater things, and teach them what He needed them to know.

The weekend was just a giant privilege, and I'm so thankful to be entrusted with the opportunity. These ladies were such a blessing. I'm grateful.

Thanks for allowing me to serve you!!